Playwright and stage director Kristian Husted and Burkinabe actor, playwright and director Kiswindsida Thierry Hervé Oueda have teamed up for the experiment, EARTH YEAR.

The experiment addresses the following question: “Is there a certain perception of time in the European drama, a chronological perception of time that underpins and reflects the economic notions of growth, progress,development?”

Thierry Oueda writes the following about a workshop he is leading as part of the experiment: “Stories, riddles and proverbs in the Maoga (Mossi) culture, a society based on exclusively oral traditions. Orality: how to acquire and pass it on? How do you become a storyteller of your own time? Together we will change continents, and as for the stories, you will see that they are very different from yours. First and foremost, we need to explore what it means to belong to a society that is based on an exclusively oral tradition. What does it mean that the only communication tools you have are live speech and imitation?

I will try to show you, with examples from the stories I have collected myself, how oral storytelling enables a progressive development of mental structures through the information that the spectator-listener receives through live speech.
After a thorough introduction to the tradition and technique of storytelling, together we will create various games with riddles, verbal jousts and simple scenarios that give a practical insight into the work of the storyteller.”